Ravens’ Chris Johnson endures

Chris Johnson and his family have picked up the pieces to their shattered lives in the past year, and there the current Ravens and ex-Raiders cornerback stood Tuesday, ready for football’s biggest stage, Super Bowl XLVII and the possibility of a celebration.

It was just a little more than a year ago, Dec. 5, 2011, while watching video at the Raiders’ facility, that Johnson got the text message from his mother.

“He shot her.”

Johnson’s sister, Jennifer, was shot multiple times and killed in Fort Worth, Texas. Her estranged boyfriend, Eugene Esters, has been charged. Johnson’s mother also was shot in the alleged domestic dispute. He asked for his release from the Raiders and took in his two nieces, 14-year-old Sidney and 3-year-old Solia.

“It’s been good, it’s been good,” Johnson said. “The 14-year-old still has bad moments, but I tell her not to hold it in and to let it out. I don’t want her to be bitter about her life. I tell her, ‘If you need to cry when you go to bed and cry when you get up, just do it.’ ”

It will be harder next month, when Esters goes on trial for capital murder and attempted murder.

“It’s going to bring all the emotions right back up,” Johnson said. “We’ll try to deal with that after the Super Bowl. Hopefully, on Sunday, we’ll be able to hold up that trophy.”

Johnson, 33, has two sons, Chris Jr. and Bran, and a daughter, Krissy, and thinks God intended for him to be an experienced parent and prepared to add to his family.

“We didn’t miss a beat,” Johnson said. “God does things for a reason. As a Christian and as a man, you have to keep going forward. I needed to push forward and be strong. I didn’t have time to wonder why.”

(He does have time to start a foundation – “Women need to get out,” he said. “It won’t get better.”)

Johnson signed with the Ravens in November and says he is blessed to have come to a team with “a spiritual base. You can’t break that.”

He didn’t volunteer any information about his sister, but did pull receiver Torrey Smith aside for a talk after he signed. Smith’s younger brother had died in a motorcycle accident in September. Then, four days after Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide, Johnson asked if he could address all of his teammates.

It was the first anniversary of his sister’s death.

“Belcher didn’t have anyone to talk to, and he did something there’s no coming back from. He needed a friend. Maybe that woman and he would still be here if he had reached out. Or somebody reached out to him. I told the guys, ‘Go to each other as brothers, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.’ ”

Johnson said linebacker Ray Lewis urges teammates to talk to each other after practices, and ask about wives and kids, rather than turning to their handheld devices and social media.

“It’s a family-oriented team,” Johnson said, “and a blessing that we are all together.”